Current Awareness in Aging Research (CAAR) Report #112--November 29, 2001

CAAR (Current Awareness in Aging Research) is a weekly email report produced
by the Center for Demography of Health and Aging at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
that helps researchers keep up to date with the latest developments in the field.
For more information, including an archive of back issues and subscription information
see:

1. CENTERS FOR MEDICARE AND MEDICAID SERVICES: "Health Care Indicators:
Hospital, Employment, and Price Indicators for the Health Care Industry"
(2nd Quarter, 2001, HTML, .pdf, .csv [comma separated values], and .zip compressed
.csv format). "Health Care Indicators contains data and analysis of recent
trends in health care spending, employment, and prices. The National Health
Statistics Group tracks trends in health care related industries and presents
this information quarterly. These data are valuable for understanding the relationship
between the health care sector and the overall economy. In addition, they allow
the National Health Statistics Group to anticipate the direction and magnitude
of health care cost changes prior to the availability of more comprehensive
data."

3. NLTCS: Duke University's Center for Demographic Studies has recently released
Version 2.0 of the 1999 National Long Term Care Survey. Note that a Data Use
Agreement must be completed and notarized before the survey can be acquired.
For more information about the new release and about the NLTCS in general, see:

A. "Understanding the Effects of Direct-to-Consumer Prescription Drug
Advertising" (Kaiser Family Foundation, November 2001, .pdf format, 24p.)."National
spending on prescription drugs is the fastest growing segment of health care
spending, accounting for 20% of the estimated increase in such spending between
1999 and 2000. Spending on advertising directly to consumers increased nine-fold
from $266 million in 1994 to nearly $2.5 billion in 2000, largely due to growth
in television advertising (13% of direct-to-consumer spending in 1994, rising
to 64% in 2000). A new survey report finds that nearly one in three adults has
talked to a doctor and one in eight has received a prescription in response
to a seeing an ad for a prescription drug and provides information on how consumers
react to seeing various ads. A separate report outlines trends in prescription
drug expenditures and factors driving their growth and prescription drug utilization,
including types of drugs used." Also included is a news release, chartpacks,
the questionnaire for the survey, and frequencies.

B. _Prescription Drug Trends: A Chartbook Update_," by David H. Kreiling,
David A. Mott, Joseph B. Weiderholt, Janet Lundy, and Larry Levitt (Kaiser Family
Foundation, November 2001, .pdf format, 59p.). "This November 2001 Chartbook
updates data from last year's chartbook, including information about prescription
drug coverage, expenditures and prices, utilization, drug promotion, and the
pharmaceutical industry." Note that a link to the 2000 _Chartbook_ is available
at the site.

14. CENTER FOR RETIREMENT RESEARCH AT BOSTON COLLEGE: ""Why Some
Workers Remain in the Labor Force Beyond the Typical Age of Retirement,"
by John B. Williamson and Tay K. McNamara (Center for Retirement Research at
Boston College, WP 2001-09, November 2001, .pdf and HTML format, 33p.).

Abstract

This study explored the ways in which race, gender, and age moderated the effects
of several determinants of labor force participation among people ages 60 to
80. The role of race, gender, and age in moderating the effect of various factors
on labor force participation was examined using the 1998 Health and Retirement
Study (HRS) data. Binomial logistic regression models were used to evaluate
the interaction between race, gender, age and other determinants of labor force
participation. The effects of various factors on labor force participation differed
by gender, race, and age. The negative effects of low education and poor health,
respectively, were stronger for women and blacks. Also, the positive effect
of low nonwage income was weaker for older workers, probably due partly to poorer
health. Our findings suggest that different types of policies would help to
encourage labor force participation among different groups. Because lack of
access to employment may deter continued work among subgroups such as blacks
and women with low education, job training or job search programs might provide
incentives for employment in these groups. Additionally, employer flexibility
regarding part-time work and work demands might make continued work attractive
for more older workers.

A. "The Effects of Transitions in Filial Caregiving on Mental and Physical
Health: A Prospective U.S. National Study," by Nadine F. Marks, James David
Lambert, and Hey Jung Joon (Working Paper 2001-16, November 2001, .pdf format,
40p.).

Abstract:

Purpose: This study examined the effects of transitioning into the role of
filial caregiver, continuation in filial caregiver role over a period of at
least five years, and exiting the role of filial caregiving due to parental
death on mental and physical health. Further, it evaluated the moderation of
caregiving effects by gender, relationship quality, filial obligation, race-ethnicity,
education, income, employment status, marital status, and parental status.

Results: Results suggested that the transition to filial caregiving at a relatively
high level of involvement was associated with more depression for men. Continuous
care was associated with more hostility, a greater decline in happiness, and
a greater decline in self-assessed global health among men. Adult children ending
parent care due to death reported mental and physical health similar to noncaregiving
adult children. Gender differences suggested men may experience more of mental
and physical health risk due to caregiving than women. Relationship quality,
filial obligation, social status characteristics, and other role commitments
influence the effects of entering into filial caregiving, often in different
ways for men and women.

Discussion: Filial care in the U.S. population is not consistently associated
with compromised mental and physical health. Gender, relationship quality, filial
attitudes, and multiple social context factors moderate the effects of entering
into filial care and should be examined further in future research.

B. "Intergenerational Help and the Meaning of Extended Family Residence
among Elders in Mexico," by Susan De Vos, Patricio Sols, and Veronica Montes
de Oca (Working Paper 2001-18, October 2001, .pdf format, 48p.).

Abstract:

This paper focuses on informal instrumental help received by a nationally-representative
sample of elderly Mexican men age 60 and over gathered in 1994. About half the
men received in-kind or domestic assistance in the last month, while about two-fifths
received financial assistance, and a little more than a quarter received physical
assistance. These figures must be interpreted alongside the facts that almost
half of the men were still working, over half (57%) had no discernible health
limitation and roughly a quarter were still living in simple family households
with one or more unmarried children. The common assumption that living arrangements
helps indicate assistance seems valid. When receipt of help was regressed on
living arrangements and a number of other socioeconomic characteristics, living
arrangements stayed an important predictor. Other factors stayed important too,
however. This suggests that help is a multidimensional concept that includes,
but is not limited to coresidence. Coresidence is neither a sufficient nor even
a necessary condition. In fact, many elders who received help, received some
of that help from non-coresiding relatives. Remittances were important, but
we found that help from non-coresiding relatives or friends included in-kind,
domestic and physical assistance as well as financial assistance. Perhaps it
is time to dust off notions of a modified extended family, and in turn modify
them, to help us understand the situation in Mexico. Questions about geographic
distance, in addition to coresidence, could be helpful.

16. NBER: "The Changing Role of America's Veterans," by Hugh Rockoff
(National Bureau of Economic Research W8595, November 2001, .pdf format, 39p.).

Abstract:

This essay provides an historical background for understanding the statistics
on veterans that will appear in the millennial edition of the _Historical Statistics
of the United States_. It describes changes in the number of veterans, and in
the benefits provided by governments to veterans, from colonial times to the
present. It then discusses in broad terms how political and historical forces
shaped the form and amount of benefits provided to veterans, and how the programs
created for veterans in turn influenced the evolution of other government programs.

Scroll to the number of the paper (58, 61, etc.) or scroll to or "find
in page" the title of the paper.

A. "Measuring Differences in the Effect of Social Resource Factors on
the Health of Elderly Canadian Men and Women," by Steven G. Prus and Ellen
Gee (SEDAP Research Paper 58, October 2001, .pdf format, 40p.).

C. "Student Enrollment and Faculty Recruitment in Ontario: The Double
Cohort, the Baby Boom Echo, and the Aging of University Faculty," by Byron
G. Spencer (SEDAP Research Paper 61, October 2001, .pdf format, 48p.).

D. "The Social and Demographic Contours of Contemporary Grandparenthood:
Mapping Patterns in Canada and the United States," by Candace L. Kemp (SEDAP
Research Paper 62, October 2001, .pdf format, 54p.).

19. American Journal of Public Health (Vol. 91, No. 11, November 2001). Note
1: Full electronic text may be available at the site. Check your organization's
library. Note 2: Full electronic text of this journal is available in the ProQuest
Research Library and EbscoHost Academic Search Elite databases. Check your library
for the availability of these databases and this issue.

20. The Gerontologist (Vol. 41, No. 6, December 2001). Note 1: Full electronic
text may be available at the site. Check your organization's library. Note 2:
Full electronic text of this journal is available in the ProQuest Research Library.
Check your organization's library for the availability of this database and
this issue.

21. Journal of Gerontology (A), Biological and Medical Sciences (Vols. 56A,
Nos. 12, December 2001). Note 1: Full electronic text may be available at the
site. Check your organization's library. Note 2: Full electronic text of this
journal is available in the ProQuest Research Library. Check your organization's
library for the availability of this database and this issue.

B. click on "Search Options"
C. Type the Journal Name in the "Publication title" search box and
click the radio button "Words in Title"
D. View the table of contents for the issue noted.

Canadian Journal on Aging (Vol. 20, No. 3, 2001).

Clinical Gerontologist (Vol. 23, No 1/2, 2001).

International Journal of Aging and Human Development (Vol. 53, No. 2, 2001).

Journal of Aging and Health (Vol. 13, No. 4, 2001). Note: Full electronic text
of this journal is available in the ProQuest Research Library. Check your organization's
library for the availability of this database and this issue.

23. NIH: "International Collaborative Genetics Research Training Program"
(US National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Aging, in conjunction
with several other agencies, RFA-TW-02-001, Nov. 19, 2001).

25. HRS WORKSHOP: "A one-week workshop on the Health and Retirement Study
will be offered Jul. 8 through Jul. 12, at the 2002 Summer Institute in Survey
Research Techniques at the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research,"
in Ann Arbor, Michigan. For more information see:

26. AARP/GEORGETOWN PUBLIC POLICY INSTITUTE/CENTER ON AN AGING SOCIETY SYMPOSIUM:
"Beyond 50: Has Retirement Passed Boomers By?" to be held Dec. 11,
2001 in Washington, DC). For more information, including an agenda and registration
information see:

Jack Solock
Data Librarian--Center for Demography and Ecology and Center for
Demography of Health and Aging
4470 Social Science
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Madison, WI 53706
608-262-9827
jsolock@ssc.wisc.edu